Bureaucracies in Schools—Approaches to Support Measures in Swedish Schools Seen in the Light of Skrtic’s Theories

In Sweden, policy changes for provision of special support have been introduced, implying that teachers are obliged to provide and evaluate extra adaptations in regular classrooms prior to referring pupils to special support. The policy changes raise questions about school staffs’ views of support measures and of necessary professional competence for provision of the support measures. We conducted focus group interviews with 60 school staff representatives—headmasters, general education teachers, and special educators/school welfare teams—about their understandings of the new policy. The data were analyzed qualitatively, with the objective to explore school staffs’ approaches to the policy changes. Two main “ideal type approaches” were discerned, using Skrtic’s theories, viz. the bureaucracy approach and adhocracy approach. In the light of Skrtic’s theory, professionals’ reasoning about the new policy may reflect difficulties that are encountered in the process of implementing the policy in bureaucracy-steered schools.     

Authorship order

Considering the fact that authorship order plays such a significant role as a basis for scientific merit, this paper looks into the practices of authorship order from a research ethical perspective. We conclude that there is a wide variety of practices and no common understanding of what the different authorship positions signify. Authorship guidelines do not provide much help. We recognize that, regardless of what system for valuing authorship positions is used, it will be misleading and unfair in most applications because relative contributions vary in ways that are not captured by fixed value assignments to authorship positions. In theory, assigning percentage figures reflecting the relative contributions of the authors would solve that problem, but we argue that such a scheme is not likely to work in practice. It can also be questioned whether relative, rather than absolute, contributions should be the basis for scientific merit. Contributorship is discussed as an alternative, but is recognized to be insufficient both in communicating absolute and relative contributions, as standardly used. However, there may be a way forward with contributorship, but then, the level of detail needs to increase considerably and its application be standardized.     

‘Happy when they arrive,happy when they go home’ – focusing on promoting children’s mental health creates a sense of trust at preschools

A need for research on young children’s mental health has been identified. Moreover, there is a need to enhance teachers’ skills regarding health promotion work in preschool. The aim of the study is to examine the impact of a specific course on mental health promotion among Swedish preschool teachers. Data were gathered through interviews and documentation. A qualitative content analysis was used. Three categories: ‘attention’, ‘belonging’ and ‘personal growth’ – and six subcategories emerged from the analysis. The latent content of these categories is described in the theme: ‘Increased awareness, in thoughts and actions, of promoting mental health may create a sense of trust at preschools’. The results show that a specific course to promote mental health enhanced the teachers’ awareness of mental health which improved their work with children. This contributed to the development of a sense of trust at preschools, which is important to children’s mental health.     

The editorial playlist as container technology: on Spotify and the logistical role of digital music packages

ABSTRACT

This article explores the role of editorial playlists in Spotify’s streaming economy. In particular, it approaches Spotify’s playlists as container technologies – i.e. technical solutions that assemble, preserve, and transport music objects and thereby uphold logistical operations within the music industry. Such an approach seeks to complement previous research concerning playlists, which has often analyzed their emotional and affective dimensions but paid less attention to how playlists enhance calculative, mathematical, and logistical retail flows within the online music economy. On the one hand, the article considers how playlists – like containers in general – materialize principles of modularization and automation in ways that enhance control and remote oversight. On the other hand, it discusses how the playlist is far from a perfected means of measurement and control, and sometimes acts as an unruly transport device. Ultimately, the article shows how the playlist format occupies an uneasy position between order and disorder within the digital music economy which has not yet been fully accounted for in the context of music-oriented media studies.     

Algebraic and fractional thinking in collective mathematical reasoning

Educational Studies in Mathematics - This study examines the collective mathematical reasoning when students and teachers in grades 3, 4, and 5 explore fractions derived from length comparisons, in...     

Metaphorical images of schooling: beliefs about teaching and learning among prospective teachers from the United States displaying different motivational profiles

This study focused on investigating the types of schooling beliefs (teaching and learning) expressed through metaphorical images by prospective teachers (PTs) from the United States. Participants (N = 215) rated 10 schooling metaphors illustrating the student–school–teacher relationships (i.e. Passenger–Bus–Driver; Student is a passenger, School is a bus and Teacher is a driver). Two main factors, a student-centred and a teacher-centred approach described the key schooling beliefs of PTs. Additionally, differences in PTs’ schooling beliefs across typologies/clusters of PTs were found. Further, qualitative data from interviews illustrated how each cluster specifically expressed their instructional views.     

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) education with homeless people in Sweden

This paper describes the implementation of an educational intervention to enhance sexual health among homeless people by including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as a part of social work provision with this group. Adult service users in different forms of temporary accommodation were provided with the opportunity to participate in three group sessions. Seventeen sessions, six with women and eleven with men, took place at six different housing facilities in Gothenburg. The intervention implementation process (which involved preparation, creation, realisation and evaluation) is described, and factors of importance are identified. Service users appreciated the opportunity to receive information and discuss sexual health, rights and norms. The success of the work may be related to the fact that the project was anchored both in social services and among service users, constantly adjusted, and delivered using a respectful approach. Social work organisations and professionals have an important role to play in acknowledging and promoting service users’ sexual health and rights, especially among disadvantaged and socially excluded groups including homeless people.     

Evaluation of fellowships awarded to developing countries — What do the studies tell?

Despite the expansion in the developing countries of institutions of higher education the award of fellowships to nationals from these countries for study abroad, in particular in developed countries, is still important. In order to learn about the effectiveness of various elements of the fellowship programmes - for example, the selection process, the relevance and use of the training, and the brain drain - many donor agencies as well as a few recipient countries have evaluated the activity. However, as most of these studies are never published, there is very little readily available information about the outcome of the fellowship training. Against this background, the present article analyses and discusses the findings of a number of evaluations undertaken. The analysis points out the more important problem areas in the activity. It also draws attention to some methodological issues which, if not considered, may invalidate the findings of studies.     

DEVELOPING CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY IN THE “STREETWISE” DISADVANTAGED GIFTED CHILD: THE THIRD WORLD CHALLENGE

This paper presents an insight into the productive abilities of the disadvantaged gifted child that forms the foundation for a transition curriculum. A model for maximizing the inner and outer world of the child is presented, integrated into this transition from “streetwise” abilities which are contextually relevant. Despite political turmoil, the Third World challenge is to provide a curriculum to develop both a positive self and a constructive view of the future. Programmes in action for disadvantaged children in South Africa are reviewed.